| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| At the Church Gate |
| | | William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–63) |
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| ALTHOUGH I enter not, | |
| Yet round about the spot | |
| Ofttimes I hover; | |
| And near the sacred gate, | |
| With longing eyes I wait, | 5 |
| Expectant of her. | |
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| The minster bell tolls out | |
| Above the city’s rout, | |
| And noise and humming; | |
| They ’ve hush’d the minster bell: | 10 |
| The organ ’gins to swell; | |
| She ’s coming, she ’s coming! | |
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| My lady comes at last, | |
| Timid and stepping fast | |
| And hastening thither, | 15 |
| With modest eyes downcast; | |
| She comes—she ’s here, she ’s past! | |
| May heaven go with her! | |
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| Kneel undisturb’d, fair saint! | |
| Pour out your praise or plaint | 20 |
| Meekly and duly; | |
| I will not enter there, | |
| To sully your pure prayer | |
| With thoughts unruly. | |
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| But suffer me to pace | 25 |
| Round the forbidden place, | |
| Lingering a minute, | |
| Like outcast spirits, who wait, | |
| And see, through heaven’s gate, | |
| Angels within it. | 30 |
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